Infographic: Is There Really a Link Between Vaccines and Autism?

A 2010 outbreak of whooping cough in California was blamed on vaccine refusal. Even though it was once very rare, cases of whooping cough have nearly doubled in the United States since 2004. And measles is making a major comeback, too. France had a reported 15,000 cases of measles in 2011, after it had been declared to be eradicated in 2000.

What’s behind these sudden resurgences in diseases once thought to be rare if not eradicated? It is being blamed on vaccine refusals by parents who are scared of the supposed link between vaccines and autism.

This link was published in Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, and has been debunked by multiple studies since then. Even the journal in which the original study was published has said the original study was based on falsified facts. By 2012, there had been 58 studies of 14.7 million children done worldwide, and not a single one of them found any link between vaccines and autism. In spite of this, one quarter of parents still believe there is a link between vaccines and autism.

Learn the history of the link between vaccines and autism as well as the facts from this helpful infographic. Vaccines save lives.